Ex-girlfriend of Lyndhurst murder trial defendant describes shooting

A Lyndhurst woman told jurors Thursday that her jealous boyfriend got into a scuffle with a friend of hers at her home five years ago and shot him to death despite her efforts to take away the gun.

Keri Lynn Lowenstein testified in state Superior Court in Hackensack that Fernando Carrero, the accused shooter, had told the victim, 20-year-old Jose Hall, not to talk to his girlfriend.

As the two men argued in the kitchen of the home on Second Avenue in Lyndhurst, Lowenstein went upstairs to get her parents so they could break up the argument, she said.

She was only a few steps out of the kitchen when she heard a gunshot and ran back, where she saw Hall on his back, his legs curled up into his stomach, while Carrero was crouched over him holding a gun, she said.

Testifying with the help of two detectives who reenacted the scene in the courtroom, Lowenstein said she grabbed Carrero’s arm and tried to pull the gun away so it wouldn’t be pointed at Hall.

But Carrero held on to it, aimed at Hall’s head and fired at close range, she said.

“Jose’s body jumped and rolled over to the side,” said Lowenstein, who became emotional several times during her testimony.

Lowenstein is the central witness in the trial of Carrero, who is charged with murder in the Nov. 7, 2007, shooting death of Hall.

Carrero has been held at the Bergen County Jail since his arrest in 2007. In January 2010, he pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter, admitting that he fatally shot Hall. He agreed to serve a 30-year term as part of the deal, but he later withdrew his guilty plea and decided to go to trial.

Hall, who was about to go to the Newark Police Academy and follow in his father’s footsteps as a police officer there, was shot in the stomach and in the head with a .357-caliber Magnum, and was taken off life support two days later.

Bergen County prosecutors said earlier in the trial that Carrero, who was 17 at the time, was controlling and abusive to Lowenstein and was jealous that Lowenstein’s former boyfriend, Corey Hicks, was living with her at her parents’ home.

Hicks testified on Wednesday that Hall, of Newark, was a “best friend, brother, everything” to him. He also testified that Hall was a frequent visitor of the Lowenstein home.

Lowenstein said Thursday that her relationship with Carrero was “ideal” when they started dating in May 2006. A few months later, however, Carrero became abusive and violent, hitting her in the face or whipping her with a belt at least once a week.

She said he once accused her of setting him up to have him killed, took her to a deserted street in Newark and punched her hard 12 times until her face was severely swollen.

Lowenstein’s testimony and her credibility will be crucial in determining the central issue in the trial: Whether Carrero knowingly and purposely shot Hall or whether he shot him in a reckless manner during a wrestling match.

For Carrero, that is the difference between a murder conviction which carries a life sentence, and a manslaughter conviction, which carries five to 10 years behind bars.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Ray Beam asked Lowenstein about inconsistent statements she had made to police after the shooting.

Lowenstein described Hall during her testimony as “the class clown” who always liked to joke and was “goofy in a nice way.”

Beam asked her about an earlier statement Lowenstein had made to police in which she said that Hall once went after Lowenstein’s friends with a baseball bat outside her home.

“Is this the same nice, sweet guy you are telling us about?” Beam asked.

“Yes,” Lowenstein replied.

Beam also pointed out that Lowenstein had said in an earlier statement that she was not even in the kitchen when the second shot was fired.

Lowenstein admitted earlier in her testimony that she did tell a different version to police right after the shooting.

“I didn’t want to be the reason he was dead, and I didn’t want anyone to go to jail,” she said.

Prosecutors argue that Carrero went to the Lowenstein home that night with intent to kill, while Hall’s visit was spontaneous. Beam told jurors during his opening remarks that Carrero did not go to the house with intent to kill anyone.

He stressed that point Thursday while cross-examining Lowenstein, who told jurors that Carrero, too, was living at her parents’ home for about a week before the shooting.

Beam asked Lowenstein if Carrero went to the Lowenstein home that night because that was where he was staying at the time. Lowenstein replied with a yes.

Beam has said earlier in the trial that Carrero did not shoot Hall in the manner that prosecutors described. Rather, he was shot when the gun went off during a scuffle, he said.

On Thursday, he questioned Lowenstein about the scuffle and pointed to her earlier statements in which she had said that Hall, too, had his hands on the gun during the scuffle.